Fantastic Planet [1973] ★★★½

A psychedelic experience from start to finish, Rene Laloux’s richly rewarding “Fantastic Planet” (or “La planète Sauvage” in french) is unlike any animated movie you have ever seen. Set on a distant planet called Ygam where humans (called “Oms” here) are enslaved by giant blue creatures called Draags, a young boy called Terr dares to escape his captor and finds refuge with a group of “rebels”who are resisting the Draags’ reign of terror. The film’s beauty, aside from its eerie story, is in Roland Topor’s stunning animation and Alain Goraguer’s unforgettable jazz score. Awarded with a special prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1973, “Fantastic Planet” ranks alongside “2001: A Space Odyssey”, “Metropolis” and “Solaris” as one of the most original science-fiction movies of all time.